


Of Roses and Graduates

by amclove



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: One-Shot, and bucky likes to make steve happy ok :((, honestly just because im so in love with the idea that steve adores roses, i got bored at work ok, i saw a rose and well..
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 23:13:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14725433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amclove/pseuds/amclove
Summary: Steve loved roses. Bucky loved Steve (platonically, of course).





	Of Roses and Graduates

     Steve loved roses. Logically he knew that of all the flowers to hold as a favorite, roses were the least reasonable because they lasted so short a time and shriveled so drastically once cut from the main plant. But this didn’t bother him, because he liked to keep them past the ‘good-by’ date anyhow and press them in whatever books he could find, the roses serving as pleasant-smelling bookmarks. He managed to find use in anything, his mother liked to say.

     He never had occasion to receive a bouquet of roses, however, because he was a boy and boys didn’t receive bouquets of pretty, ruby-red flowers. At least, not in Brooklyn. This usually meant that Steve bought roses under the guise that they were a gift for Sarah, when really he just wanted the excuse to have them in the house to look at and press, for himself. When his mother died from T.B., his ‘reason’ to splurge on red roses became nonexistent, and so he stopped. All he could do was see them in the flower shop window, which ended with a sigh and drooping shoulders that made the already short Steve seem much shorter.

     Graduation from high school came after what felt like twenty years. Steve had been dealing with all the stupid boys and judgmental girls for far too long; it was almost like he was getting used to it by now. Of course, he had Bucky to defend him, but he didn’t want Bucky to always be right there whenever he needed saving. For one, Steve didn’t want to be the kid that Bucky continuously needed to bail out of a fight; he wanted to be able to defend himself properly and maybe even impress Bucky with how well he could do so. But that wasn’t going to happen any time soon, and Steve knew he should accept that. It was the pits, but it was reality.

     Anyway, graduation day arrived and despite the fact that his parents wouldn’t be there to see it, Steve knew that they would be proud of him for making it. His one peeve was that he’d always hated how Bucky got to be called first for almost everything, surname being Barnes, while Steve had been stuck with Rogers and had to wait as long as he always did to be called. This time it was to accept his diploma, so it doesn’t have to be said that Steve was about ready to rocket out of his seat when he heard his name announced.

     Steve and Bucky cheered louder than was reasonable for one another because they had no one else. Having lived together for almost three months now, that on top of a years-long friendship made the pair all but family. They walked back to Bucky’s following the ceremony and Steve eyed his friend all the while.

     “What’s going on with you?” he asked. “You’ve been acting off since we left the school.”

     “I’ll be right back,” Bucky said instead of answering. He gestured to the small couch, already leaving the room. “Just wait here.”

     “Bucky, what…” Bucky, of course, had already disappeared. Steve sighed and wandered into the living room that some would call tiny and Steve would call cozy. That was life with Bucky, he supposed; if you were with someone you cared for, any place was just right, and Bucky was his person. How many nights had found them planted on that same couch as they listened, enrapt, to yet another installment of [Jimmie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VldGeyaEQK4) Allen’s adventures alongside Speed Robertson, or danced without a care on that very rug to [Ben](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hztng_-5Kk) Bernie’s greatest hits?

     “I got you these.”

     Shaken from his reverie, Steve turned to see Bucky, a bouquet of red roses held in his hands. “Buck,” Steve said, confused. “What…?”

     “I know you’ve always liked ’em, always getting ’em for your mom.” Bucky shrugged his shoulders a bit. “Now she’s gone and I figured you’d like to have them in the house again. You don’t have to keep them if you…”

     “Bucky, no,” Steve disagreed immediately. He stepped forward and hesitantly took the roses from Bucky. “I love them. I do. I’m just surprised. Thank you for this.”

     “Don’t worry about it.”

     Steve’s cheeks felt warm as he added, “I feel horrible, I didn’t get you anything.”

     Bucky shook his head and, without hesitating, tugged Steve’s skinny frame into a hug. “Hey, that’s not why I got you the flowers,” he told him quietly. “Don’t you dare feel bad.”

     “Thank you,” Steve repeated.

     “Yeah, Steve. You’re welcome.” He pulled back just enough to look down into his friend’s face. “We’re graduates, Rogers.”

     Steve’s lips quirked into a grin. “Whadyah know. We’re graduates.”

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own the Avengers or anything relating to the publications.  
> A/N: Canon divergence: Steve mom dies while he is 17, as this is set in June of 1936, and Cap turns 18 in July.


End file.
